Mine has soldering iron, solder, solder wick, etc, and ~300 LEDs, few hundred various resistors, couple arduinos, ac adaptor, power jacks, usb to serial adaptor, avrasp, and an assortment of buttons. Basically a good assortment of the basics.

So is Windows, Mac OS, and thousands of other products that people use every day. Just because something isn’t Open Source doesn’t mean it lacks value. Quite the opposite — often something proprietary has tech support and a high level of quality that is often missing in open source stuff. Don’t be so fast to critique free software, even if its from a for-profit organization.

Twitter user Rahel Anne Bailie remarks:

@scottabel @Makemagazine Have seen photos of everything from 3D body parts to 3D guns. Exciting but terrifying at the same time.

I wouldn’t count on it being more expensive actually, my experience is that most of the smaller bits are quite cheap by comparison to decent lumber. Then there is the fact that not everyone owns a table saw, router, planer, etc to do a reasonable job of creating a sturdy cabinet. For my time and money, I would probably opt for the flat pack enclosure as well.

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In addition to being an online editor for MAKE Magazine, Michael Colombo works in fabrication, electronics, sound design, music production and performance (Yes. All that.) In the past he has also been a childrens’ educator and entertainer, and holds a Masters degree from NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program.